Product Review: Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Shine Conditioner

Picture got from SheaMoisture

Product description

"This lightweight daily conditioner for thick, curly hair restores and smoothes dry hair cuticles. No more knots, snarls and tangles. Helps tame frizz as it defines and enhances natural curls." 

Ingredients

Deionized Water, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut ) Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Sorbitol Esters, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter*, Simmondsia Chinesis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive ) Fuit Oil*, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5), Proprietary Essential Oil Blend, Silk Protein, Aloe Barbedenis Leaf Extract, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Melia Azadirachta (Neem) Seed Oil, Rosemary Extract, Caprylyl Glycol *Certified Organic Ingredients

Price

£12.99/$11.99 (13fl oz)


My review

This product smells really good, let's start with that. It smells really coconut-y, but its smell is definitely not overpowering - it's actually quite pleasant.

I have used this product twice now. Once as a normal rinsing conditioner and once as a co-wash. The first time I used this product, I had just taken out a weave after having it in for quite a while so my hair wasn't in the best of states (it also was a bit damaged).

My initial impression of this product was that it pretty much had no slip whatsoever and that it did not do much for my hair. I was going to write this review then, but chose to try the product out again, before I go ahead with the review.

I used this product again yesterday. This time, I used it on semi-stretched hair that was a bit tangled as it had been manipulated a few times without proper detangling/combing each time. During my co-washing session, I did not use a comb until I had this conditioner in my hair and although I did not feel like my hand was just sliding off my hair, I felt like this product actually helped the tangles slide out of my hair easily. I had very little breakage while washing my hair and the shed hair was to a minimum. I also was able to run my hands through my tightly curled type 4 hair! That is definitely something that doesn't happen often. My hair also felt really nice, soft and moisturised and it handled being out in the sun better today than it did before I co-washed it when it seemed to dry out and feel straw-like after just a few minutes in the sun.

I must say, I am not having a "WOW!" factor from this product, but I do really like it. I prefer it to my BeeMine conditioner and I prefer it to the Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner as a co-wash.

My hair is naturally shiny so I can't say much about the shine from this product as I feel it didn't add or take much out of my hair's natural shine.

One thing I would really like for this product to have is more slip as I feel that would have helped a whole lot more with my post-protective style wash day, although I don't plan on protective styling like that again in at least a year. More slip will also result in me having to use less products to detangle my hair and in turn, it would lead to me spending less on hair products on the long run as I am still a student and purchasing these products does put quite a dent in my bank account.

Overall, I think I would recommend this product as I haven't had any bad experiences from using it and it actually did leave my hair soft and helped in the detangling process. Also, although my hair has been in two buns since I washed it, I can tell that the frizz it normally experiences is less.

Product Review: Flaxseed gel

Picture from LetMeLetYouKnow

So, I tried this out for the first time a few days ago. I made it using 1 part flaxseeds to 8 parts water followed by a bit of extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin coconut oil after straining out the gel.

This product acts like a gel, yes, it did it's job. HOWEVER, it left my hair flaky and looking dirty. It was so bad that I had to cowash my hair TWICE (after covering it up to go for a mini party to celebrate my friend's court wedding). The flakes were crazy!

Despite the flaking, the gel left my hair feeling soft, moisturised and nice, actually. I liked what it did for my hair.

I'm sorry, I'm jumping around here.

Applying the gel was not really messy. It was an easy application. I do plan on retrying this product before I completely write it off. The next time I use it, I'll use less on each section and pray that that leads to no flakes and still defined curls and a good hold and set.

So, this was a short review. Shorter than even I expected.

Remember, products work differently for people and I know quite a number of ladies who did not experience flaking from using this gel (and I know others who got dry hair from it. Not sure how that happened, but hey! we all have different hair!) :)

Review: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner

So, I tried this, but not on my entire head of hear. I used it on my nape hair at the left side of my head. If you read my last post, you'll know that I have grown out my nape hair past neck length so, I have quite a bit of hair to work with there when doing a review with a product that isn't 100% natural like this.

Okay! So, here's the ingredients list:

Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Bis-Aminopropyl Dimethicone, Orchid Mascula Flower Extract, Zea Mays (Corn) Silk Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Extract, Fragrance, Benzyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Blue 1

As you can see, this product is sulfate free, paraben free, protein free and glycerin free.

Okay, so here's how I used it:

I got quite some on my finger tips and worked it into my nape hair, left it in my hair and had a shower then I rinsed it out thoroughly. I pressed out the excess water  and that was all. Please note that I did not shampoo my nape hair before doing this.

My results:

When my hair was a tad bit dry, I felt it and it actually did feel pretty soft. Now, now, my hair usually feels soft, I know, so, some of you might think that I can't say much about this, so I'll just put it like this,  it did not dry out my hair. I think the Hello Hydration might actually be quite moisturising. It's definitely a good conditioner for people who seek moisture and don't mind products that aren't 100% natural. 

When it comes to co-washing, which is more or less what I did (now that I think about it), the conditioner was a very good co-wash for my nape hair. I haven't washed my hair in 2 weeks now (I'm going to wash it on Friday) so, you can tell that my hair was not squeeky clean, freshly washed. The conditioner cleansed my hair, and removed the little product buildup I had. So, yeah, this is pretty good as a cleanser too.

Would I try this product again?

Honestly, I doubt I will so, I'll say, 'no.' You can figure out why.

Would you recommend this product to people?

If you don't mind using products that aren't 100% natural, this is the co-wash/cleanser and conditioner for you. 

My Mini Twists so far. Take-down in a few days.

><>

Hola!

So, my mini twists are still in, but they're coming down on Saturday. This means that I'll have had them in for about two and a half weeks. Not bad, not bad, longest I've kept mini twists with just my hair in. I guess if they were a bit smaller, I'll have kept them in longer.

Okay! So, I've been spraying my hair with lavender water and lavender oil (in a spray bottle) daily. I hand picked the lavender leaves from the garden. After that, I seal in the moisture with my lovely new product (did I mention that it's pH balanced?). I dusted all my twists some days ago, can't remember when exactly. The ends of my twists are like popping with defined curls and I didn't twirl them neither where they twirled when they were done. They're just popping and looking gorg'.

Okay! So, my plans are.....I'm going to wash my hair with the twists in on Friday, stretch out the twists overnight and take them down on Saturday. I actually just wash my scalp and condition my hair, not wash my hair. I never work shampoo into the hair strands. I don't even work amla into my hair strands. I focus on my scalp and the hair's cleansed when I rinse out what I washed my scalp with. So, I guess I'm going to braid the twists in sections or just hold them off with ouchless bands and work section by section washing my scalp and working conditioner in my hair then I'm going to seal in the moisture (after rinsing the conditioner, of course, with my new product) then hold my hair up to stretch as it dries. On Saturday, after a nice, warm shower, I'll take down the twists quickly and.....I'm not sure about a twist out so, I guess I'm going to fake a blow out and then curl my ends a bit with my flexi rods or fake a blow out and do a braid 'n' curl on it. Whatever works.

After that, I need to figure out what I'll do with my hair daily till October and then till December. I guess I'll switch it up with a tuck 'n' pin, puff and some other simple style (I might make two flat braids some time) and then in October, I might get mini twists done again. I'm not sure about mini-braids 'cause I'm more likely to loose hair at my ends with that and I'm trying to avoid that, plus, it'll take longer to take down. If I could get some Marley or Havana hair, don't know where to get those in England, I'll install big twists in my hair and keep them in till January when I'm getting my first weave in the past almost 6 years (Heat-Free Hair Movement).

Anyways, that's all for now.

Interview with the beautiful, Daniele Watts (from Django) coming up soon, look out for it! :)

~Sammy

My Plans

I'm using this as a reminder. From a couple of posts ago, you know I'm moving out and to England. So,  most of my hair journey was spent in Africa. The parts that were spent in England, well, I was still trying out products and stuff 'cause I didn't know what worked for me. Y'all know I'm into natural stuff right now, right? Back then, I was into John Frieda stuff. So, I'm online going through my Curly Emporium shopping list, finding things I'll need on ASDA and Tesco's websites (curlies in England, Tesco's got the oils, like, OH.MY.DAYS!) and, IKEA. I'm going to buy a potted aloe vera plant from IKEA. Fortunately, it's not expensive, just £3.50. This is helping me know where exactly I need to go to for what exactly.

As I said above, oils, whichever type, will be gotten from Tesco, Tresemme Naturals Conditioner from ASDA or Boots 'cause it seems like my BeeMine Conditioner has been discontinued (I'm considering revisiting the John Frieda conditioner I used to use so, I might buy a bottle from one of those places), hair accessories/tools (including hair shears) from Boots, I'll need to order Curlformers (I've finally convinced myself to try them) from Salon-Services, I'm considering getting sectioning clips from them too, shea butter will be sent over from Africa, satin scarves will be gotten at Accessorise, everything else I need will be ordered from BritishCurlies Curly Emporium.

One reason I put this up here is to help UK naturals know where they can get these things from. I've gotten stuff from all those places apart from the Salon-Services so I trust them. I'll just have to give Salon-Services a try and hope they're good.

Amla Powder Review

Hey everyone,

So....I'm finally writing another review.....

ANYWAYS.....

Today, it's all about amla. I am on my second week of trying out amla now and I absolutely love it. Okay! So, my review's going to be a little more organised now. I know that not everyone knows what amla is and many people might what to know how I used it and how I guess it should be used. So, here we go:

><>

What is amla powder?

"Amla powder is made from the Indian gooseberry or amla fruit, which is native to India. Amla fruit is a natural source of vitamin C, amino acids and tannins. Traditionally used in Ayurveda treatments, when processed into powder form it's commonly used in massage oils, skin care and hair care products. When used topically, the benefits of amla powder on hair are numerous." ~Tia

*(Sidenote: It has a brown-ish colour and and a distinctive smell that I can tolerate, but some people complain about. By the way, I know its smell just by like moving it close to my nose to know what it smells like. On my hair, I couldn't smell jack. )*

How do you use the amla powder?

The first time I tried amla (I had quite a lot of buildup), I used about 3-4 tablespoons of the powder with about 2-2.5 tablespoons of water and made a paste with it (the paste looks pretty much like some dark brown stuff).

Prior to getting the amla on my hair, I detangled my hair (dry detangling) and sectioned my hair off in twists as I detangled (no specific number of twists). Next, I moisturised my hair with my newfound baby (a mixture of BeeMine Daily Conditioner, BeeMine BeeLovely Hair&Scalp Moisturiser and Water) and retwisted.

I got the amla paste (by the way, the consistency of this is just a little thicker than a milkshake) on my fingers and took down a twist then I got the amla onto my scalp and scrubbed a bit with my fingers (no scratching/no nail action). I retwisted after getting the amla on my scalp and then did the same for every twisted section.

I donned on a plastic bag and left my hair like that for 30 minutes. I took down a twist and rinsed then retwisted and did the same for every other twist then I did exactly this again, but adding conditioner instead of rinsing then I went over again rinsing out the conditioner.

*(Sidenote: You might consider using gloves for this 'cause the paste gets under nails and gives your palms a pretty much downright nasty colour splattered all over it.)*


Today, I had my hair in two high umm....not exactly buns. Which I had deep conditioned (by the way, deep conditioning with  a satin scarf on and then a plastic bag over that and another scarf holding it down can give shiny hair). I took down each bun, one at a time detangled with a little coconut oil and got the amla on my scalp and scrubbed around with my fingers, got my hair back in the two buns then I donned on a plastic bag and left my hair alone for about an hour or an hour and a few minutes. I took down each bun and rinsed it out and co washed with a mixture of conditioner (BeeMine and Tresemme Naturals) and coconut oil (excellent slip and super soft hair after rinsing out thoroughly) then I put them back up in the buns (to prevent shrinkage (if your ends are held, the shrinkage is less)). i left my hair like this till it was 98% dry before trying out a new style (basically a semi-elegant tuck, roll and pin). My hair still feels amazing right now!


What were your results?

With the first, my curls finally clumped and some were loosened up a bit. My hair was like SUPER clean, but not stripped. Definitely not stripped and my hair looked beautiful.
With the second, little to no clumps and clean hair that looks and feels great.


What don't you like about the thought of amla?

Amla is said to stop/prevent premature greying. Premature greying is something that runs in my family. I started getting strands of grey hair when I was really little (shortly before my first relaxer, I believe). The stylist then yanked them out without asking (OuCh!) which got my mum and I really upset. I have very few grey strands right now. My uncle (mum's bro)  went grey really early, my mum's hair has about 4 different shades of brown that seems to have a purplish tint when there's direct light on it  (her natural hair colour) and strands of grey (silver-ish (runs in the fam)) scattered around. My dad has strands of grey hair scattered everywhere, my aunt (mum's sis) has strands of grey hair scattered around everywhere, my dad's youngest brother is practically all grey, my grandmothers went grey pretty early (mum's mum with silver hair and dad's mum had naturally had silver, white and gold (honestly) hair till she started dyeing it), my bro has some grey strands. All went grey early. We actually kind of love it. I know I love my grey strands and I want a lil more quickly. I don't want to lose that and that's what puts me off amla a little. I haven't noticed that it does that, but it is said to and I don't like that).


What are things you must do before using amla?

You must moisturise or deep condition before using amla to prevent a drying effect. You also have to detangle if you don't you most likely will end up with a mass amount of nasty tangles.
That's basically it!

*(Sidenote: After using the amla, remember to use a conditioner on your hair. Make the amla your shampoo and remember, you shampoo and then....CONDITION!)*



Things you should consider?

As i usually say, what works for one person might not work for another try this on a small patch of hair and see if it works before you use the amla everywhere.
If you've heard that amla can be used on the face, test out the amla on a small part of your skin before using it everywhere.
Amla works great in my hair, but when I tried it on my face.....WOOOOWY!......LORD HAVE MERCY! I BROKE OUT LIKE CRAAAAZY! GAAAH! I had to switch back to my honey washes which clear out my acne magically (within a week or two).




OKAY! WE'RE DONE HERE!
Hope this helped somebody!
Lemme know if you've tried amla and what your results were and if you have any tips on using it and if you used it in a different way.

><>

I have to digress a little, it's in my nature (*Cheshire cat grin*).

I think I've found my graduation hairstyle! Yay! A cinnabun something-something. Yay! :)

It's been a while..... (must read update)

I know I've neglected this for a while and I'm sorry, but.......I've got to do that again. I will try to get on once a week or once every two weeks, but I doubt I'll post something new on here any time sooner than that. Don't worry, those things in the 'Coming Soon' post are still coming. Once I get the time to type up all the reviews and I get back to England in Nov. (had to send the BeeMine stuff over to my aunt's 'cause they were too heavy at that point in time to bring over here with me. Last to arrive, first to go, as dad likes to put it (with my stuff)).

Anyways, I finally took my extensions (twists) down (on the 30th of Aug) and I doubt I'll ever put them back in. Why? Well, it  pulled out my hair. Like it took off over an inch of my nape her at the left corner  (finally grew out my nape hair and now, I have to start over on that side). Took off over and inch in front. I actually had to take down all the extensions around that area, twist up my own hair and hold it up with the rest of the twisted extensions. However, I didn't have any lint in my hair when I took them down (unlike my mum lol). I made sure to wash my hair (even though I did that just once) in a certain way: get everything in a bottle, quite diluted, shake up the bottle and wash your scalp with it's contents then rinse out thoroughly (oh! and be sure to braid up your twists in sections and hold the ends of each section with a rubber band and please, DON'T let that rubber band come into contact with your actual hair). I also moisturised every now and then so, my hair wasn't really dry when I took down the twists. I had been told that the synthetic extensions I used would dry out my hair thoroughly, but I guess, I was able to figure out a way to prevent that. I also always slept with my satin bonnet on. But I'm not going back to twists or braids with extensions. I'm going to stick to my own hair or crotchet braids. I might revisit the extensions some time, but well, really lose ones or something....I don't know.

My hair everywhere else grew quite a bit (about an inch or a bit more:) ) during the time I had my twists in (low manipulation). I got to school for some stuff (before school got back in) and like the few other students that had to be there exclaimed, "ohmigosh! your hair's grown so much!" and well, you know me, I can't just let that comment pass. I even had someone put his hands in my hair just to feel it (without my permission, ofcourse), but it was okay 'cause he's one of my closest guy friends, but I totally felt like joking around and going, "you don't touch a black woman's hair!" (or a part black, in my case, but, anyways!). My hair's been shrinking a whole lot, I should add. Over 75% I believe (I know). I have to keep it stretched 24/7. I'm actually back to my weekly protective styling, but during the weekend when I DC, wash, etc, my hair shrinks and gets tangled whenever even after a thorough detangling session (and the shrinkage makes it worse). This week, I decided to just take out the ends of my flat braids (cornrows). On Friday, I did my shortest DC ever  (which means I didn't sleep with the DC on - oh! and the DC was with coconut oil). Before I slept, I co-washed my hair and scalp (still with the braids in) then I wrapped my hair up in a t-shirt, secured the t-shirt on by tying a scarf over it then my satin bonnet thingy. By morning, it was all dry so I took all those things off my head then I started taking out my ends (every part that wasn't flat braided/the ends of every flat braid) then I banded them (using Goody Ouchless Bands) to keep them stretched and to retain the whole braid-out look (and add a lil "band-out" action to it :) ). I still have my hair like that right now, but I'm taking everything down before I head out to church tomorrow, but I can't decide what to do with my hair.....my signature puff that everyone loves, or an afro which would most likely shrink to my scalp in this humidity (or possible rain). *sigh* My dilemma. But I sure do know that I'm rocking my signature puff to a formal dinning event I'm attending on Friday. It's going to be full of teens aged 15-17, we have it every year. We get all dressed up in gorgeous evening gowns, tuxedos/suits, get our hair done, and act like grown ups (well, some of us don't really need to act if you know what I'm saying *wink* *wink*). I believe that my puff would look great with my dress. Oh my is it gorgeous! Note to self: make sure to pack an afro pick, bobby pin and elastic head band.

Okay! So here's the really important part:
(If you've read everything so far, thank you so much, I truly appreciate it! :) )


I've been thinking for some time now about writing a book and well, early this year, I used to think about making my own natural hair product line since I'm already such a mixtress.
As for the book, I was talking about it with my mum and I was like, "you know those books that have 2 cover/front pages?" and she was like, "yes," and I was like, "I want my book to be like that, wanna know what the titles would be on the different cover pages?" and she was like, "sure," and I was like, "on one side, it'll be 'SammyWithTheBigHair,' for naturalistas and on the other side, 'Stubborn Like My Mother' for people who are like you and choose to remain relaxed when they've got beautiful curls!" Can't you just imagine that book right now? A total best-seller, don't you think? We gon' be famous! *Sammy does some cool (scary) happy dance* :)
About the products. I know it'll be hard to advertise and all, but I think I might go into this sometime. When I'm older ofcourse (even if just by a year) and when I done with this school year (graduating by the end of this school year). I'm thinking bout calling my brand of products, 'Sammy's Little Bowls.' What do you think about that name?
Oh! and I came up with some really good hair moisturiser some days back, modified it a little today, put it in a bottle and it is epic! I totally love it! Made my hair feel so soft, moisturised and totally G.O.O.D *Sammy dances again* This moisturiser makes life easier for me. Instead of having to reach for the bottled water to get on my hair then the coconut oil/cond-mix then the butter, I have this. Saves time. I'm thinking of making this one of my first products. I might actually start selling it now because some people have requested for some of the things I make for my hair. I'll see what I can do, but nothing major. I would put the recipe on here, but for now, it's going to be my secret, my secret moisturiser, 'my precioussss, myyyyyy' 'It came to me, my own, my love... my... preciousssss'. *said in a gollum of Lord of the Rings voice* :) I mean, it's totally amazing! But I guess I should stop talking about it now since I'm not putting it up here yet (oh! but for you guys, my first fans, just send me a message (details on the contacts page on here) and I'll send you my recipe, but you have got to modify it a bit to fit you. What works for me may not work for you.


Okay! So here are some new things about my hair:

1. She totally loves coconut oil now
2. She's starting to like olive oil
3. She loves her shea butter even though it doesn't smell very appealing to Sammy and her parents.
4. She has the perfect puff now when she detangles her hair and combs it into an afro using a pick before holding it up in the puff
5. She totally wants a trim (but the stylists refuses to give it for the next 3 months)
6. She totally loves water
7. She shrinks so bad she makes Sammy look like she has a TWA when she doesn't .
8. She hates extensions
9. She loves Sammy's tender loving care :)

Anyways, I still can't decide what exactly to do with my hair for my prom and graduation. By then, I should, hopefully, be around or a little less than bra-strap length when my hair's been stretched out (which I'll do using african threading).

I'm thinking about getting my first blow-out in over a year, but I'm looking for a blow drier which has a cool/cold setting on it. That's what I'll use. No heat is going on this hair (even with a heat protectant on). Sammy's gon' rock a massive 'fro when she gets her hair blown out! *dance* Wait! why am I talking in third person?

Anyways, I'll talk to you all later,

~SammyWithTheBigHair